Watering: how dry?

[Johnny5thesim]

not in soilless medium it doesnt
LOL

try it and see

my soil plants go at least a week between waterings

By soilless do you mean coco? I know it’s watering frequency is much higher then peat. I use peat, and do a wet dry cycle. Full saturation with runoff on a 5 gallon smart pot gives me 4 days till dry up. But it’s quite forgiving and I can also water while still wet without issue.

 

[Hdinkleman]

By soilless do you mean coco? I know it’s watering frequency is much higher then peat. I use peat, and do a wet dry cycle. Full saturation with runoff on a 5 gallon smart pot gives me 4 days till dry up. But it’s quite forgiving and I can also water while still wet without issue.

yes im growing in a coco peat soilless and having some ph issues. i have been treating it like soil throughout the grow, also did some dumbass noob shit and topdressed (which now i know was dumb) and messed a bunch of stuff up.

but from what i gather in soilless you only let it get dry at the begining when you actually want the roots to stretch. once you have an established root system (like towards the end of veg) you do not want it drying out conpletely or alot, in my case. i did not do this and once flowering started my small problems turned into big problems. im still learning as i go, but found out over the last week alot of the soilless watering i was doing was wrong

 

[Hdinkleman]

also i used a 10 gallon smart pot because i wanted a huge plant, which in hydro made everything 10x more of a pain in the ass.

at least when i grew in 5 gallon airpots i could easily pick up the whole plant directly after watering

 

[Johnny5thesim]

yes im growing in a coco peat soilless and having some ph issues. i have been treating it like soil throughout the grow, also did some dumbass noob shit and topdressed (which now i know was dumb) and messed a bunch of stuff up.

but from what i gather in soilless you only let it get dry at the begining when you actually want the roots to stretch. once you have an established root system (like towards the end of veg) you do not want it drying out conpletely or alot, in my case. i did not do this and once flowering started my small problems turned into big problems. im still learning as i go, but found out over the last week alot of the soilless watering i was doing was wrong

So you’re in coco or peat? Both have fundamentally different feeding strategies. My take is, coco will require far more frequent watering. As it’s retention is lower. And drying it up, is not a great idea. I’ve also heard coco medium absorbs calcium that needs to be accounted for. Otherwise deficiencies can occur.

Peat, has good retention, which is why it’s often mixed with perlite for added drainage. And feeding with the frequency of coco would be a waste. As peat holds the nutrients. And allows for a wet dry cycle similar to soil.

Unless your using some kind of hybrid peat coco mix? In which case I have no idea how you would water it!

 

[Greenlizard]

yes im growing in a coco peat soilless and having some ph issues. i have been treating it like soil throughout the grow, also did some dumbass noob shit and topdressed (which now i know was dumb) and messed a bunch of stuff up.

but from what i gather in soilless you only let it get dry at the begining when you actually want the roots to stretch. once you have an established root system (like towards the end of veg) you do not want it drying out conpletely or alot, in my case. i did not do this and once flowering started my small problems turned into big problems. im still learning as i go, but found out over the last week alot of the soilless watering i was doing was wrong

Well you are perhaps correct with coco but with a peat based mix like my Sunshine #4 It is to be treated exactly like regular soil. In fact it probably holds water a lot more than most soil. I watered my plants the same way right through into flower. I guess you could say I watered about a day sooner when in later flower. I can't comment on your coco as I have never used it.

 

[Johnny5thesim]

A quick reads suggests there is a hybrid version. I’ll have to inform myself what exactly that is!

 

[Greenlizard]

I just realized you said that you are growing in coco/peat. That sounds like one would defeat the purpose of the other? Again, I am not familiar with coco so my opinion doesn't count for much. Have you grown in this mix for long?

 

[Hdinkleman]

I just realized you said that you are growing in coco/peat. That sounds like one would defeat the purpose of the other? Again, I am not familiar with coco so my opinion doesn't count for much. Have you grown in this mix for long?

what ph is sunshine mix? i have seen it at my grow store and i dont know if i want to use the stuff i have now again after my current plants are all done

yes exaclty my hydro shop guy says to treat it like soil whih it isnt, and the bag says its adjusted to 6.2, its canna terra pro plus, i shouldnt of bought the stuff to begin with but hydro shop guy told me the taste was good with it

 

[Bud]

I’m doing a CMH 315 as well it’s my first run with it and am very happy so far with temps staying much cooler than my 600 watt hps. A added bonus is the reduced electric bill a 40.00 difference between the two.lol

 

[Bud]

I like mixing my own soil using a combination of ffof,core,peat,and 2 pounds of perlite pre bag of ocean forest the combination works very well, I rinse the core well to remove salts I use a 5 gal. Smart pot to rinse core and let it dry out before adding to the mix . Iol

 

[Hdinkleman]

I like mixing my own soil using a combination of ffof,core,peat,and 2 pounds of perlite pre bag of ocean forest the combination works very well, I rinse the core well to remove salts I use a 5 gal. Smart pot to rinse core and let it dry out before adding to the mix . Iol

i am torn between sticking with the same brand though now that i have somewhat gotten used to it regardless of the problems ive had with it and starting the process over with a new medium
reminds me of my past girlfriends lol

 

[J Obadiah]

yes im growing in a coco peat soilless and having some ph issues. i have been treating it like soil throughout the grow, also did some dumbass noob shit and topdressed (which now i know was dumb) and messed a bunch of stuff up.

but from what i gather in soilless you only let it get dry at the begining when you actually want the roots to stretch. once you have an established root system (like towards the end of veg) you do not want it drying out conpletely or alot, in my case. i did not do this and once flowering started my small problems turned into big problems. im still learning as i go, but found out over the last week alot of the soilless watering i was doing was wrong

Coco/peat?? Whats that?

 

[Hdinkleman]

Coco/peat?? Whats that?

coco mixed with sphagnum peat moss
its a pre mixed bag called canna terra pro plus

 

[Sask420grow]

Pending on media, too dry can harm the soil. The microbial life needs moisture just like those damn root aphids.

 

[J Obadiah]

coco mixed with sphagnum peat moss
its a pre mixed bag called canna terra pro plus

Oh, awesome!

 

[J Obadiah]

I let mine get really dry once. And one of them, the top 5 inches of every top drooped and actually fell over, and were like wet noodles.

I watered, and within 3 minutes, they were back to stiff and solid. I noticed no wilting or anything. They just seemed to fall over once they ran out of water.

It was really cool to see how fast they corrected after watering!

I picture all the stalk and stems like garden hose. With pressure they seem solid. And without, they flop around!

I know its been a while on this post, but check out osmotic pressure, its qhy they fall over/perk back up. Very interesting.

 

[J Obadiah]

I let mine get really dry once. And one of them, the top 5 inches of every top drooped and actually fell over, and were like wet noodles.

I watered, and within 3 minutes, they were back to stiff and solid. I noticed no wilting or anything. They just seemed to fall over once they ran out of water.

It was really cool to see how fast they corrected after watering!

I picture all the stalk and stems like garden hose. With pressure they seem solid. And without, they flop around!

I know im late, but check out Osmotic Pressure. Very interesting.

 

[Mr Mark]

So as I am nearing the end of my first grow I notice the main issue I see with new growers is over watering or just really oddly made up watering schedules. The word "schedule" shouldn't even be associated with growing in soil when speaking about watering.
I was fortunate enough to find a great post by Emilya that teaches you how to properly water before I made any mistakes. Here is a link to her post: The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
I just wanted to take a moment to share a couple photos that shows just how resilient these plants are and how you should not be affraid to let them dry out.
These are some of my clones that will be put into flower once I harvest the mothers. I am going to be up-poting them soon as well.
As you can see they are very dry and wilted. I could have watered the day before but I wanted to let them really dry out just to show the best example.
The next photo was taken only 12 hours later. They perked pack up into full vigour.
Don't be shy to let them dry.

That helps my confidence and has put a lot into perspective for me now when it comes to drying them out.!!

So thanks for that..!!

 

[Emilya Green]

Pending on media, too dry can harm the soil. The microbial life needs moisture just like those damn root aphids.

This is actually a myth... sorry. While it is true that when a container dries out all the way to the bottom, some of the microlife dies, not nearly as much as you would think does so. First, until it has dried out for a week or more, there is still some moisture hiding in the organics, in the perlite and in wet spots around the roots and at the bottom and sides of the container. Second, the microlife is tougher than you give it credit for... even mostly dried out our little troopers can go into a state of remission and hibernation, waiting for moisture to come along again. When the moisture hits, they reactivate and start multiplying, doubling their numbers every couple of hours. It takes no time at all really, to get the microlife back and active again once we water. It really does us no favors to water too often trying to preserve the microlife, instead of teasing out the water so as to entice the roots to grow throughout that container. It is best during veg, while you are building those roots, to let the container dry out, all the way to the bottom, between each watering.

Lastly, not everyone relies on the microlife. Many of us only concentrate on the myco fungi, but have no thoughts as to the other types of life that can exist in there, because they are growing synthetically. If your feeding cycle does not rely on vast populations of microbes because it is not a pure organic grow, then this drying out thing really is not a worry at all for you. The fungi can take the abuse and any other microlife in a typical synthetic grow is just along for the ride and not really critical to the grow, because everything fed to the plants comes ready to uptake, right out of the bottle... no microlife needed.

 

[Mr Mark]

This is actually a myth... sorry. While it is true that when a container dries out all the way to the bottom, some of the microlife dies, not nearly as much as you would think does so. First, until it has dried out for a week or more, there is still some moisture hiding in the organics, in the perlite and in wet spots around the roots and at the bottom and sides of the container. Second, the microlife is tougher than you give it credit for... even mostly dried out our little troopers can go into a state of remission and hibernation, waiting for moisture to come along again. When the moisture hits, they reactivate and start multiplying, doubling their numbers every couple of hours. It takes no time at all really, to get the microlife back and active again once we water. It really does us no favors to water too often trying to preserve the microlife, instead of teasing out the water so as to entice the roots to grow throughout that container. It is best during veg, while you are building those roots, to let the container dry out, all the way to the bottom, between each watering.

Lastly, not everyone relies on the microlife. Many of us only concentrate on the myco fungi, but have no thoughts as to the other types of life that can exist in there, because they are growing synthetically. If your feeding cycle does not rely on vast populations of microbes because it is not a pure organic grow, then this drying out thing really is not a worry at all for you. The fungi can take the abuse and any other microlife in a typical synthetic grow is just along for the ride and not really critical to the grow, because everything fed to the plants comes ready to uptake, right out of the bottle... no microlife needed.

Emilya you Girls/Guys on this site are amazing.!!